'Deal with it' Documentary on Canada's Hepatitis C Epidemic Now Available on iTunes, Awareness Campaign Launches for World Hepatitis Day

Bang Albino Films today announced that it is making its documentary "Deal with it: Untold Stories of Hepatitis C in Canada" available digitally through iTunes.

The eye-opening film uncovers the country's hidden hepatitis C epidemic. Today, 300,000 to 500,000 Canadians are estimated to have hepatitis C, a deadly virus that attacks the liver and can lead to liver cancer, transplantation, or death. Currently, hepatitis C causes more deaths and years of life lost than any other infectious disease in Canada, including HIV/AIDS. While the disease can affect anyone, Baby Boomers currently make up approximately 70% to 80% of hepatitis C cases in Canada, but many of them are unaware they have the virus.

"The difficulty with hepatitis C is that there are no symptoms that appear until it's too late," says Dr. Hemant Shah, Clinical Director, Francis Family Liver Clinic, University Health Network in Toronto, who was interviewed for the film. "It's like you're walking towards a cliff. You're looking towards the horizon, but you don't appreciate that the ground is about to give way and you feel perfectly fine as you walk towards that cliff."

Thanks to the emergence of new drug therapies, hepatitis C (HCV) is now one of the few chronic diseases that, in most cases, can be cured - provided it's caught and treated soon enough.

To get the word out to at-risk Canadians [http://bit.ly/1Iee3EM] on the importance of getting tested and treated for HCV, the documentary's producers have launched the "Deal with it / Dealt with it" awareness campaign in the lead up to World Hepatitis Day on July 28. The producers are asking anyone who has been touched by the disease to post a video or photo on Facebook and/or Twitter (#DealwithitHCV) wearing a "Deal with it / Dealt with it" wristband explaining how they are personally dealing with, or have dealt with, hepatitis C.

There is a huge public stigma surrounding hepatitis C that continues to prevent people from getting tested and treated for the disease, says Shah.

"The film does an excellent job of documenting the harm this prejudice causes individuals who have been diagnosed with HCV," he added. "My hope is that the campaign will broaden the public's understanding of this disease. I strongly encourage everyone who is battling, or who has beaten, hepatitis C to talk about it on social media and elsewhere on world hep day (July 28th) and beyond."